We're from Colorado too. My husband and I were just talking about taking our car down pretty soon. We're spending quite a bit of time there also and it would just be nice to be able to go to the store, beach, etc without a taxi. Just worried about the old beast making it down there (the car that is; not the hubby ; ) I would love to keep in touch with folks from CO even though we live south of Cancun. Christina, it would be great to keep in touch and talk about your trip down. Please be careful. On another note...hopefully things are calming down; we're coming down Friday for a long weekend and them I'm back down at the beginning of June for the summer. Sue
Driving to Cancun Hi Sue. It would be great to keep in touch with you. Will you be heading back to Cancun in the beginning of June (by car)? Maybe we could caravan. Send me a private message, and I'll forward you my email, so we can keep in touch -- and maybe meet while you're here in CO. Take care,
Driving to Cancun Christina, My wife and I moved to Cancun a year and a half ago. We drove our car from Chicago and crossed at Laredo, Texas. We also brought our dog with us. If you would like to know anything about the trip PM me. Our dog became a huge problem. In Mexico it was very difficult to find any accommodations that would accept travelers with a dog. That pretty well ruined our plans to spend more time driving through Mexico. Something you might want to think about, if your dogs can't stay in your car overnight or your not camping out.
Driving through MX Hi Chicago Tom! Did I mention that I'm a Chicago native, born and raised? Thanks for the cautionary note about my dogs, but I'm coming to Cancun by car and must bring my "kids" (the dogs). I'll be driving through to Brownsville, Texas and will be entering Mexico at Matamoros. Any tips would be helpful. Thanks!
Have lots of toll money. And heads up for potholes! Mostly, don't forget to get pictures here and there! I made that same drive in 2002, crossed at Brownsville. Some amazing country. Beautiful. Unfortunately I had no camera.... sure wish I did. Good luck! I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Ugh! Greeeeat... Thanks for the tips. I'll be in and out of Matamoros as quick as possible. Carrie77, would you like to come with me? I'll fly you up here (Colorado) and pay for your hotel accommodations along the way (a shared room). If you'd seriously consider it, send me a PM and let's talk. Any ideas on what would be "enough" cash to bring along on the road? Just an estimate? Gracias!
Christina - One point about Immigration in Mexico. When you cross at the bridge into Matamoros Mexican immigration doesn't stop you and force an FMT form on you. But you need to stop and get one anyway. You are allowed to cross into Mexico there without an Immigration inspection but you when you get around 50 Miles into Mexico you will hit a checkpoint and those soldiers will ask to see your passport and FMT. If I remember right the INM office is to the right after you cross the bridge, but I crossed there a long time ago. But do make sure to stop and get that FMT when you get into Mexico.
Immigration Kiim is right on Christina. We had already obtained our car sticker from the Chicago Mexican consulate along with our FM3 before we started our trip. We green lighted the initial crossing point, so were not required to stop. Since they saw we also already had our car sticker they told us to just.....go go go! When we got to the 2nd checkpoint 20+ miles in, we did not have our passports stamped so they sent us all the way back to Nueva Laredo to get them stamped. We wasted about 3 hours altogether and were technically "gringo illegals" in Mexico for that amount of time. The funny part of the story is, that after we got our proper stamps and filled out some minor paperwork they didn't even want to see them when we got back to the 2nd checkpoint! They just waved us through. We pulled forward and green lighted again. Viva Mexico! We were in and on way to Monterrey.
Car Insurance I have not seen the need to get Mexican car insurance before entering Mexico mentioned. We have a number of friends who drive down each year, from ME, NY and MO, and they always speak about timing their trips to be able to stop and get their car insurance in Brownsville before crossing.
